It was a special Australia Day for us this year as Sal received her Citizenship and is now a dual National, although I don't think she will ever sound anything but English....wish I could say the same for the kids!........Immi "Sheila" Dorsett is now completely Native.
The full day started with an open air concert at 0830 in a Canberra City park - big band / Sinatra style music....a bit early, but my Boss was the lead signer and the office put on a full attendance....its a bit odd having your wing commander singing romantic songs to you.......ahhhhhh!
Having done our bit for my Annual Report, we headed down to Lake Burley Griffin to catch sight of the flypast and 21 Gun salute, both done to coincide with the completion of the ACT Citizenship award ceremonies led by the Prime Minister.
Mid PM we headed to the "delights" of Queanbeyan Park for Sal's Citizenship Ceremony (similar to the ACT Ceremony in one way only...the weather was good) Queanbeyan is an intriguing town with an interesting mix of residents who all benefit from slightly lower than average house prices ....stop there.
Having seen the 30 minute ACT Citizenship Ceremony that morning, we had great hopes for the Queanbeyan City Council's version and gathered for registration promptly at 4PM, ready for a 5PM start.
We were shown to our allocated plastic seats which each had a free Aussie flag, National Anthem cheat sheet (spelling mistake - "Girt by Sea" should obviously read "Dirt") and a piece of paper to leave on the chair in your absence to ensure that no other guest sat there or no local stole the chair!
After another 30 minutes of watching the crowds gather, we discovered the Order of Ceremony on the back of the National Anthem sheet...OMG! It was huge, the list of events and dignitaries who would speak dwarfed the little line in the middle of the page that read "Citizenship Ceremony".
We started as scheduled and there were countless rambling speeches, from Councillors, Local dignitaries and even the Manager of Woolworths!!! Highlights included the musical interlude given by a local, somewhat elderly, choir. We naively expected just the one song, but when the Deputy Mayor stood to speak as the first song slowly finished, she received a hard stare from the conductor, quickly followed by a flicking of hymn book pages and the start of another song. This stand up - errrr no - sit down routine went on for 3 Songs!
In the last of many speeches, the choir were thanked yet again, but the speaker did say that he was unable to sing along in his usual fashion as he didn't know the words to the last song.....I think some had had a page faf and they were actually singing a number of different songs at the same time! Priceless.
Finally, after an hour that none of us will get back, the ceremony started. Sal joined her group to state the Oath and was then called forward to receive her official citizenship certificate and gift bag!?...contents: native plant, commemorative coin and a book on historical Queanbeyan!
Its not over yet.........Once all 29 New Citizens (From 15+ Counties.....sadly no Kazakhstan....name always makes me laugh (Borat)) had done the "grip and grin" it was time for more formalities: Australian Day Awards (Well done to all...inc the Choir! :-o ), Australia Shaped Cake - cut by honorary guest and a raffle prize draw...........1st prize.......Citizenship for you and 4 friends!........joke, it was a WII Fit.
At 1hr 45minutes and 93% through the order of ceremony, Sal spotted that the Choir were about to perform for a second time..........the Dorsett family decided that this was a good time for a comfort break for the children. A great event that we won't forget for a long time.
The day was finished on top of Mt Ainsle, watching the fireworks over the Lake.
